Vinagar Herbacide?

About a month ago there was a thread here about using vinagar as a herbacide.
I cought the thread late in the discussion and so did not read the source.
Who came up with the idea?
How strong a solution?
What about other acids, ie Muratic?
Thanks,
Ed Upshaw
Anna Maria Island,
A quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem.

I've used vinegar on a limited basis, mostly on walkways for the weeds
growing through the cracks. It has worked very well. What I like best is
that it's completely non-toxic.
I'm using 20 percent which is "leavings" in the barrels I purchase in
which I plant potatoes (and one strawberry barrel with an herb barrel to
follow). The barrels are 50-gallon barrels used by a food processing
company which they sell for $5 each after they empty them. The vinegar
barrels are white; they also have soy sauce barrels which are a beautiful
blue but tough to carry in your car because they make you hungry with the
soy sauce smell . . . keep thinking of stopping for teriyaki!
Another thing vinegar is excellent for is to remove rust from tools, works
great!!!
Sources to purchase the stronger stuff? I've not yet found any. What we
buy in the grocery store is five percent. I felt fortunate to happen upon
the 10 percent.
Glenna

source.
Um, no it isn't non toxic. It's extremly toxic to soil biota as well as to
plants. If it weren't toxic, it wouldn't work. Admittedly, most of the
herbicide action is because of it's phytotoxicity, which is why you get
regrowth that must be retreated.
It's also darn dangerous to humans if you get it in your eyes, and I
wouldn't want to handle it without gloves either.
It's not organic either.
Or without negative effect on the soil.

Belladonna is an organic alkaloid. It's from the Foxglove plant -- a
gorgeous plant.
Both are useful, if used properly.
29% of modern pharmeceuticals are plant derivitatives. Used wisely,
they're wonderful. Used improperly, they can kill people. *shrug*
We're doing trials here at my house using 20% acetic acid on cow
parsnip, which is invasive in my area. (We call it "push' -key " which
is a borrowed word from the Russian fur traders who showed up in this
neighborhood about 150 years ago. The Russians married the Aleut gals,
so our local dialect is full of "borrowed" words from Russia.)
Jan, in southcentral Alaska

Lots of things are toxic to insects, or various kinds of bacteria, or
yeasts, that are not toxic to vertebrates. I think the questioner probably
understood that a pesticide must be toxic to the pest, and probably meant to
ask if vinegar would harm the plants or humans. As fallen fruit generates
vinegar (probably beneficial to the plant as a natural insecticide), and
many members of genus Homo use vinegar on salads, the answer would seem to
be obvious.

A whole industry needs to be closed down.

This will be news to vintners who permit air to reach their wine.

See above. Nevertheless, it is not a good idea to drench the garden with
acetic acid. If you have done so inadvertently, follow with a dressing of
lime, which will turn it into calcium acetate, and rescue the pH.

I'm sure it is labelled as you say.
Whatever it says, "xx% acidity" has no meaning in the real world. The only
possible intent must be "xx% acetic acid".
It is as if whiskey manufacturers would label the product "40% drunkeness"
instead of "40% alcohol" or a proof rating, in the belief that semi-literate
purchasers would find that more meaningful.

Calling the product e.g. "100% acid" would be like calling the rubbing
alcohol "100% alcohol", and would be equally misleading and equally
uninformative. Calling it "100% acidity" (or whatever number) doesn't make
any sense at all, no matter how you slice it.

The stuff you put on salad is usually about 5 % acidity, which has a mass
percentage of between 4.0% and 5.5% acetic acid. The stuff at Lowe's has
much more acetic acid. Vinegar is a weak acid, and is relatively safe when
used in low concentration (i.e., you can eat it). The 20 % acidity material
will be a strong lachrymator and skin irritant. Do not use Muratic Acid,
a.k.a. Hydrochloric Acid. This is a strong acid and it will do harm to you
and the environment.
Derek

a word of caution if using muriatic acid (hydrochloric acid) - the
description as labled probably is 20 baume (specific gravity) 20% acid
by weight...use caution when using it as it will burn your skin and
don't breathe in the vapors or any vapors that are emitted when or if
it comes into contact with anything. very nasty stuff - it even eats
up steel!!!

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